A communication system can be seen as a facility that enables communication sessions between two or more entities such as user equipment and/or other nodes associated with the communication system. The communication may include, for example, communication of voice, data, multimedia and so on. Communication systems providing wireless communication for communication devices, including user equipment, are known. An example of a wireless system is a cellular network in which a base transceiver station (BTS) or similar access entity serves user equipment (UE) such as mobile stations (MS) via a wireless interface. The operation required for the communication can be controlled by one or several control entities, which may be interconnected. One or more gateway nodes may also be provided for connecting the cellular network to other networks, such as to another cellular system, or to a public switched telephone network (PSTN) and/or other communication networks such as an Internet Protocol (IP) and/or other packet switched data networks.
A cellular network can thus provide access to various services and applications provided by the cellular network, or by entities or networks external to the cellular network. Mobile users connected to a wireless network can access the Internet on a wireless device from any location covered by the network. Wireless networks include Wireless Wide Area Networks (WWANs) based on open wireless standards, such as Time Division Multiplex Access (TDMA) and Code Division Multiplex Access (CDMA), which allow users to roam freely across extensive geographic areas. The WWANs may be operated by a wireless carrier, such as Verizon Wireless®, AT&T Wireless® and Sprint PCS®.
Most mobile users can access the Internet through a WWAN by using a wireless device equipped with a wireless modem and Internet access software. The Internet access software may include a web browser, such as Internet Explorer, available from Microsoft Corporation, or a microbrowser, which is a simpler version of a web browser with reduced graphic capabilities. In addition, the Internet access software may contain a variety of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) and associated applications for formatting and displaying web pages on the wireless device. A web page is a multimedia composition that may contain text, audio, graphics, imagery, video, and nearly any other type of content that may be experienced on a wireless device. A web page may also be interactive and contain user selectable links that cause other web pages to be displayed. A group of one or more interconnected and closely related web pages is referred to as a web site.
A web site has a particular address associated with it called a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). To view a particular web site, users input its corresponding URL on the wireless device, either by typing the UL address on a web browser window, or tapping an icon or menu button on a personal digital assistant (PDA) screen or cellular phone.
To access web pages and other Internet content on a WWAN, users are required to subscribe to a wireless service plan offered by a wireless service provider. A wireless service provider is a company that offers cellular phone service and/or wireless Internet service including e-mail and web access through a WWAN. Examples of wireless service providers offering Internet access include Verizon Wireless®, Sprint PCS® and AT&T Wireless®. The wireless service plans are provided on a monthly or annual fee basis, with the fee depending on the type of services and geographic coverage desired.
Typically, users purchase the service plan at a retail store, or a web site associated with the wireless service provider, or by calling a customer service representative. Users may purchase the service plan together with the wireless device, or after purchasing the wireless device. In addition, users may add or change a service plan at any time after purchase.
To use the services provided in the service plan, users must first activate the services in their wireless devices. The activation process typically requires a series of steps involving the user and the wireless service provider. The steps may include the user providing a unique identification (ID) code associated with the wireless device or wireless modem, selecting a specific service plan, and providing personal and financial information to the wireless service provider for the purposes of billing the service plan. The activation process may also require the user to select a user name and a password for accessing the wireless services. The information may be provided on a web site or by calling a personal customer representative.
Services provided by the cellular network often require support from other network entities, or elements. For example, in order for a subscriber to use a Navigation application, the subscriber's account must be set up, or provisioned to use several network elements, such as a data gateway, a messaging server, a Location Proxy Server (LPS) and other elements.
Some of the elements that are included in a wireless service are hosted and maintained within the cellular network infrastructure and are known as in-network servers (also referred to as in-network elements). Other elements are hosted and maintained by third party partners, known as Application Service Providers (ASPs) (also referred to as out-of-network elements). In-network elements hosted within the cellular network are usually purchased from vendors and are licensed for a given number of subscribers. Usually, license costs are based on tiers of subscriber quantities. The following is an example of a typical cost structure for an in-network element:                Initial cost: $1.5 M includes a license for 100,000 users        
100,001-500,000users$100,000500,001-1,500,000users$200,0001,500,001-3,000,000users$250,0003,000,001-10,000,000users$350,000
For out-of-network elements hosted by ASPs, costs are usually based on the number of subscribers, and the in-network provider is charged by the month per subscriber. An example of a typical fee schedule for an ASP is shown below:
SubscribersMonthly Subscriber Pricing     0-1,000,000$1.351,000,001-1,500,000$1.301,500,001-2,000,000$1.252,000,001-2,500,000$1.202,500,001-3,000,000$1.153,000,001-3,500,000$1.103,500,001-4,000,000$1.004,500,001-5,000,000$0.80>5,000,001$0.75
Once a customer activates a new mobile device and subscribes to a wireless service (for example, Verizon Wireless®), a service provisioning process sends transactions to activate or provision the user on the in-network elements and the out-of-network ASP based servers. Once the customer is provisioned, the service can be used by the customer and the wireless service is charged according to the licensing and subscriber pricing tables, as shown above.
Conventionally, all provisioning occurs up front at the time of device activation and when the customer subscribes. The costs to the wireless service provider are also incurred at this time. The ASP starts charging the wireless service provider for the customer after provisioning, and the license count is incremented on all server elements, regardless of whether or not the customer uses the service. This is an unnecessary cost to the wireless service provider.
In addition, the in-network service provider may not use all of the elements that are supported by the in-network provider. For example, unless the service provider actually sends a message to an element requiring a gateway element, the gateway element is not used. Because all elements are provisioned up front, however, licensing costs are incurred for all elements even if features within the service that actually require the element are never used.
In many cases, a customer likely makes the most use of a service soon after he/she subscribes to the service. Over time, the usage level drops off and the customer may rarely, or may never use the service again; the customer, however, remains subscribed. With this usage pattern, inactive subscribers remain provisioned, even though the service is not used. The licensing costs to the wireless service, as shown above (for example), continue to be incurred.
As will be described below, an aspect of the present application addresses service provisioning implemented by a cellular provider (such as Verizon Wireless®) which improves upon the aforementioned aspects of conventional service provisioning. Such improvements include delayed, incremental and adaptive provisioning of wireless services that result in lower service costs to the cellular provider.